I, Alex Cross Filming in Cleveland

September 18, 2011

Casually encountering the Detroit Bomb Squad truck, Detroit police cars and various strategically placed black Cadillac SUVs, one might think they were transported to Detroit, only this was Cleveland on a beautiful September day watching the filming of the James Patterson novel turned movie, “I, Alex Cross”. On this day it could pass as the “windy” city with 30 MPH gusts, which would prove to be a hazard later. As with most movie shoots, there is the standard waiting many hours for the exciting parts to happen. In talking to nearby office workers on break, they tell of the excitement they witnessed the week before, with helicopters, snipers, and the actual actors, Tyler Perry and Matthew Fox, on set right outside their office building.

The closest to star sightings on this filming day were the stunt doubles, but they did look like the real deal, and there was the rumor of “explosive” action to come! This day was unseasonably hot, but the stuntman doing the dirty work for Tyler Perry was dressed in a turtleneck (seen in the photo) and leather jacket (added later), offering a clue to the setting of the film. Rehearsals included stunt people jumping, diving and rolling on tumbling mats. For hours the only excitement is watching the police car and mats being moved forward and back, then more casual jumping and tumbling and a heavy sand bag is shot out onto the mat.

Looking up, three sniper actors could be seen on the roof, just hanging out waiting for some action. They did have the best view of what was going on down below. The director, Rob Cohen, could be heard over the loudspeaker giving a detailed safety talk for the explosions.

The winds were monitored and filming delayed. Then it gets pretty interesting, and excitement builds.
The safety talk included a very structured run-through of the upcoming flaming stunt action. The director says he will instruct “fuel the stuntmen”, which will take 3 minutes. Upon completion of the 3 minute fueling, he instructs that he will count down from 5 for igniting the fuel. At that time it will be the point of no return and everyone must proceed. To hear him explaining the process in detail, really punctuated the seriousness of what was about to go down.

Again, more waiting, the winds were definitely not cooperating, and the fire chief was delaying the explosions and stuntmen being lit on fire. By this time 4 hours have passed and it is announced that the shooting will resume (hopefully) in 2 hours due to the wind. Knowing that the 2 hour time estimate will probably be longer, I choose to abandon my mission for a previous engagement on the other end of town. The explosion happened in nearly double the time previously announced, but at least it was filmed by the local Channel 3 news crew so you can view it here… http://www.wkyc.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1158222478001 All I can say is OUCH! Flames aside, the stuntmen are definitely earning their pay as they are flown through the air and slammed against a truck!